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Animal Instinct: Paging Dr. Dog to Diagnose Disease

By

Sanette Tanaka

Updated July 10, 2012 12:01 a.m. ET

Many dogs can be trained to sit, fetch and roll over. Now, pups are being trained to detect disease and help patients in distress. Rebecca Johnson, director of the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri, explains how dogs can be useful in the medical field.

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Dogs can be trained to detect low blood sugar levels in diabetics by picking up scents that go unnoticed by humans. Upon...

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Teaching Dogs to Detect Disease and Distress

Dogs can be trained to sit, fetch and roll over, but they can also be trained to detect disease. A look at how dogs are used to detect cancer and detect low blood-sugar levels in diabetics. Pups can also be trained to help people who suffer seizures and post-traumatic stress disorder. Sanette Tanaka has details on Lunch Break. (Photo: Getty Images)